Creative Writing – Can We Pencil You In?

Posted on September 07, 2018 by Matt Geske

A teenager makes a documentary about his mysterious friend with agoraphobia. A rag-tag group of soldiers helps to liberate Poland from the inside out in World War 2. A new, complex relationship is tested and threatened by a mad man. A world appears, made up entirely of memes… or is it? What do these story lines have in common? They were developed, written, and shared by past Creative Writing for Stage & Screen class students!

Creative Writing for the Stage and Screen class is for teens ages 13-18, and for the Fall 2018 semester it will take place on Wednesdays from 7:00pm-8:00pm (starting September 19th). The class will be taught by experienced writers Zachary Wilcox and Andrew Reid, both on staff with the Academy’s theater division Acting For Young People.

What story do you want to tell? A fairy tale? An out-of-this-world adventure? A dramatic mystery? Mr. Wilcox and Mr. Reid have heard lots of ideas in the class over the last couple of years. “It’s all about the idea, and going as far as you can with that idea,” said Mr. Wilcox. “Put a pen(cil) on paper or your fingers on a keyboard, and don’t stop until you can’t think of the next word. Then, just shake it out and keep going!”

Don’t have an idea? Don’t worry about it! “The beginning of this class is all about figuring out what you want to write and how you want to write it,” Mr. Reid explains. “We start with exercises that push the writer to explore his or her creative energy.”

Once you have your idea, the instructors invite you to write as much of the story as you can each week and bring in fresh pages to read together as a class. “Sharing is the most important part of this class,” commented Mr. Wilcox. “We maintain a safe space where writers can work together and bounce ideas off each other.”